So near and yet so far at BIFM Awards

I was at the Grosvenor House Hotel on London's Park Lane earlier this week for the annual British Institute of Facilities Management Awards dinner.

There were 14 awards up for grabs and BBC Workplace was a finalist in two categories including the most prestigious one - Facilities Manager of the Year.

This flagship award is given for outstanding personal performance and career development. I was very pleased to see that Jan Healy was one of five shortlisted candidates from across the entire FM industry. Jan is based at Oxford Road, Manchester and has the BBC in her veins. Having moved to Balfour Beatty Workplace (BBW) last year she has gone from strength to strength.

Jan was recognised as Employee of the Year by BBW and I was not surprised to see her being shortlisted for this award. Sadly it went elsewhere but reaching the final is no small achievement and well done to Jan.

The second award Workplace was involved in was the FM Excellence in a Major Project. For this category VFA were shortlisted and received a highly commended award.

Gary Hills and team have been working with VFA since 2008 to introduce a capital planning tool to the BBC estate. This was recognised by the judges as a major contribution to the operation of our estate. VFA is not well known in the UK but I'm sure this will change over the coming years.

I'm very proud of these achievements and although we didn't quite make it and secure the top awards, being shortlisted is a great feat. As Bonnie McLellan of VFA said to me on the night, "We're only starting out and there is always next year."